Message from the President - Northern Illinois Alliance of Fire Protection District

April, 2018

Well, it just might be
spring. At least that’s what my calendar tells me!

As you will read about in
Ron Kubicki’s report, Illinois sent a delegation of 19 fire service
representatives to Washington D.C. to participate in the Congressional Fire
Services Institute in April. Of those in the state delegation, 3 represented
the NIAFPD; Executive Director Kathy Haage, Legislative Liaison Ron Kubicki and
myself as NIAFPD President. This is an important effortthat the NIAFPD
co-sponsors every year with the IAFPD and IFCA.

I have to say that I was
awed by the participation and organization of our team and the access we were
granted to our congressional representatives’ and senators’ offices. We were in continuous
motion and were able to pack in visits with Senator Durbin and 6 congressmen in
person.We also met with the staffs of
Senator Duckworth and 9 other congressmen and congresswomen. We presented each
legislator with a hotsheet of pressing bills and initiatives that would greatly
benefit and help to protect emergency responders and the public we serve.

We also urged all of the
Illinois legislators whose offices we visited to join the Congressional Fire
Services Caucus if they were not already members. This bipartisan caucus is one
of the largest on Capitol Hill and serves as a forum for education and
discussion on a broad range of issues that impact the readiness and response
capabilities of our nation’s first responders to all forms of hazards.

I want to send a huge
thank you to Ron Kubicki for his organizational skills and for making this a
powerful and highly influential exercise for not only the NIAFPD but for all of
the Illinois Fire Service.

It is activities like this
that make it clearly evident that the NIAFPD is truly an important and
influential organization for the Illinois Fire Service and I am always humbled
to represent all of you.